Since the new year started, I have been rearranging the furniture (things that mean the most to me) around in my mind. One of those special things is writing and making time for it. I think that by the end of January, I will have a pattern set and a new habit to begin. It’s all about balance. I do plenty of reading and writing for my university classes, but I have stacks of books I want to read otherwise and I’d love to write more 100 word challenges.

The new year promises new adventures, even if they are right in my own home! I want to finally finish my bedroom this year, my soul-space, my sanctuary. I think completing that task will give me the energy I need to tackle other things that need to be done.

Definitely on my itinerary are places to go and time spent with family and friends. And self-care. Eating well for a healthy heart means cooking (instead of gulping down all the ready-to-eat processed food) and that means getting used to cooking for just one or two people. There are definitely more bubble baths by candle light in the new year, more coffee while curled up on my favorite part of the sofa, and photography. Outside. Where the wind blows. And the sun rises and sets. In the yard and garden and state parks where my sister liked to go.

This will be a year that I will intentionally let go of some things and cultivate others. I will let grief go. I will cultivate loving relationships with the living and in the memory of my daughter and sister.

Birds are chirping in the garden of my soul. It is spring again for me, even though it’s a soggy, dreary winter here in central California. The seasons of my soul and life never pay heed to the actual rotation of the earth. They come and go as they will and my job is to watch for those changes and embrace them.

Now it’s time to live.